Armoire à musique [Music Cabinet]

This monumental Music Cabinet, designed by Koloman Moser, is built in ample proportions. Framed by a projecting edge, it owes its beauty to its plain oak surface - treated only with white lead to bring out the veins -, its repoussé silver-plate panels, its delicate gold and silver curving forms with their echoing musical vibrations... Moser's subtle choice of materials and the cabinet's simple visual harmony broke away from the popular tastes of the day, from the preference for opulent reproduction furniture that symbolized apparent wealth, finding appreciation among the enlightened lovers of modernity.